Cages [Hardcover]

Dave McKean (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2002

One of the all-time best and most highly acclaimed graphic novels ever is now, finally, back in print! The first print was a quick sell-out from Kitchen Sink before they disappeared. Dave McKean, famous for Arkham Asylum and his covers for Sandman, presents a highly allegorical tale of the dwellers of an apartment building. They each have their own lives, their own takes on life and these intertwine and relate inevitably to each other in ways that make life¹s mystery. Running in parallel lines or tangentially, the differing lives each have their own tale to tell under the magic spin of McKean¹s brilliant imagery and story-telling. It¹s about a blocked painter, a controversial novelist and a wise musician. It may be about God, about jazz, about sex, but also about creativity and artistic fulfillment. A seminal work that proved, rather refreshingly without artifice, how thought-provoking comic art can be.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Best known for his work with Neil Gaiman, McKean is also an accomplished cartoonist in his own right. This is his magnum opus to date: an immense, pulsing graphic novel that's also a treatise on art, creativity and the uses and misuses of technique. Originally serialized between 1990 and 1996 (and collected in 1998), it's been out of print for several years. The book's plot is fairly rudimentary: a painter, a writer and a musician who live in the same apartment building find their lives intersecting. But the book's gradual shift from literalism to fanciful allegories and stories-within-stories mostly serves as the springboard for a visual tour de force. For most of the book, McKean restricts himself to wobbly, jagged two-tone pen-and-ink drawings, occasionally in the manner of Egon Schiele. But he often signals shifts in storytelling mode by switching media or style (to ink-wash brushwork, airbrushed photography, white-on-black "woodcuts," bold near-abstractions or whatever seems appropriate); when the artwork erupts into full-color paintings and collages, the effect is explosive. Even when the story falters or drifts into endless philosophical chitchat, McKean's artwork saves the day. His characters, built out of crazily bent lines and splatters, have perfectly choreographed body language, and his daring visual experiments serve the ideological goals of his writing.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

McKean is possibly the most widely known of the current artists creating comics for adults; he painted the covers of all 75 Sandman issues and has also drawn The Black Orchid and Violent Cases. Cages is the only work that McKean has both written and drawn, and he uses the opportunity to present a dialog on the rewards and hazards of creativity. Cages tells the story of three artists: Leo Sabarsky, a painter in need of inspiration; Angel, a nightclub musician who seems oblivious to the adulation of his fans; and Jonathan Rush, a writer whose novel Cages so enraged his readers that he now lives in captivity. How these characters break free of their mental cages forms the central conflict of this book, which evolves into a meditation on creativity and godhood. The artwork is dynamic and changes form as McKean feels appropriate. This is as much an art book as a narrative. If your library is only going to buy one graphic novel for adults this year, make it this one. For public and academic libraries.?Stephen Weiner, Maynard P.L., MA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing; 2nd edition (April 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561633194
• ISBN-13: 978-1561633197
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #213,818 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Most Rewarding Books Ever Written, August 9, 2002

By 

Jason N. Mical (Bellevue, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cages (Hardcover)

My first experiences with Dave McKean were as illustrator for the Sandman comic books, and the Vertigo tarot cards, eventually leading to my strongest appreciation for a contemporary artist. Imagine my surprise when I came across of a copy of Cages, complete with traditional McKean artwork, on my comic-shop shelf. I wasn't even aware McKean wrote graphic novels, let alone one of such size (it's 500 pages long). I knew from the minute I saw it that I had to buy it, and after saving my pennies and dimes, I finally got the chance. Not a moment of the time spent earning the money to buy this book was wasted.

In a style that fluctuates somewhat based upon the character being portrayed (although most of the story is told from the artist, Leo's, point of view), Cages tells a tale of three creative people together in an apartment building, set in some parallel-dimension London, or a similar city. Leo, the artist of paints, canvas, and sketches, moves in and meets John, a novelist, writer, and critic whose work Cages earned him the ire of a public that misunderstood his point. John must also contend with a pair of goons intent on making his life miserable, which Leo gets a chance to experience firsthand when he tries to save a young girl from their harassment. The third is Angel, a blues and jazz musician at a local bar, whose poetry-slam style lyrics and dangerously emotional playing style set him apart from the other musicians, both as an artist and a pariah.

Rounding it off is a mysterious woman who poses as Leo's model, a landlord on the verge of insanity, a woman with a foul-mouthed cockatoo, and a naked homeless man who fell out of the sky five years ago and has been delirious ever since. Round that off with a black cat who serves as a kind of Puck figure for God Himself, and McKean has laid the groundwork for a one-of-a-kind comic novel.

The story fluctuates from that which is grounded in reality (although that reality is certainly questionable) to a dreamlike semiconsciousness where poetry, advertising, and McKean's signature artistic style merge to create points of meditation for the story at large. The drawings are almost entirely black-on-white, although the book has shades of blue running through it, and some of McKean's more intricate works are in color. The story is introduced by a series of poems about God and artistic creation, and comes together as a cohesive whole if taken as more than the sum of its parts.

That being said, Cages is not for everyone. It is not a comic book. Its plot is small, and serves more as a vehicle to attempt to understand the process behind creativity and the reactions of people around the artists to that creative struggle. Cages requires a substantial investment in time to read, contemplate, read again, meditate, go back and read some more, appreciate, and so forth. For anyone up to that kind of challenge, or anyone who likes McKean's art, or anyone who is looking for a different take on the artistic process and how it is viewed by people outside of the artist, Cages is one of the most rewarding books available. My only complaint (and it has nothing to do with the content) is that the black ink easily picks up fingerprints, so if you aren't careful, you could leave smudges everywhere. It's too nice a book to ruin.

Final Grade: A; ALMOST an A+

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "That's a nice thought." "It isn't mine.", August 11, 2003

By 

Sam Thursday (APO, AE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cages (Hardcover)

There are really no words I can write to do this one justice. It's one of the single most moving experiences I've ever had reading anything, never mind comic books. McKean's line art is breathtaking, and the painted interludes and photo montages are every bit as fascinating, disturbing, and touching as anything he's done with Neil Gaiman or Grant Morrison. The story is about a tenement and its various occupants, but it's also about inspiration and love, and the things that drive us to create. Go read it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A comics masterpiece, June 5, 1998

By 

Mark Aronson ([e-mail]) (San Rafael, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cages (Hardcover)

Comic books have come a long way since the inception ofSuperman. And, believe it or not, Archie and Jughead are no longerconsidered "cutting edge." Comics have blossomed. Why, there are even murmurs that, at it's best, it might even be considered a valid medium. Stranger still, there are those who will swear that it can be comparable to high art. For the incredulous, I offer Dave McKean's extraordinary comics opus, Cages. While winning a truckload of awards for his illustration work, he was quietly creating what can only be called a comics masterpiece. At the risk of sounding like Bertrand Russell, Cages tugs at the fabric behind reality, never wholly taking leave of what it is to be human. What's so admirable about this is that McKean does so with a light touch. Peppered with a dry humor that will make you laugh 'till you cry, and mixed with equal parts mystery, philosophy, art, love (not the drippy storybook stuff...the real thing), absurdity, pain, and magic, Cages takes comics waaaaaay beyond Jughead. The art, like the writing is exceptional. Most is done in plain, raw (dare I say "immediate?") ink drawings with a subtle touch of blue-gray for color. Simple? yes. But EXTREMELY emotive. And watch out...when he does dive into glorious four-color, his truckload of awards suddenly makes a lot of sense. This is clearly the work of a man who grasps the medium in which he works; the art and story work in perfect synergy. Cages is the story of a young artist in the same way that Citizen Kane is the story of some rich guy. Masterpieces can never be summed up in a word. Find out for yourself what it's all about. Find out for yourself where comics can take you. Make no mistake. This is art.